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Children’s exposures to water and sand at the beach: Findings from studies of over 80,000 subjects at 13 beaches
Citation:
Deflorio-Barker, S., B. Arnold, J. Colford, S. Weisberg, K. Schiff, E. Sams, A. Dufour, AND Tim Wade. Children’s exposures to water and sand at the beach: Findings from studies of over 80,000 subjects at 13 beaches. EPA 2016 Recreational Water Conference, New Orleans, LA, April 12 - 15, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
Exposures to water and sand at 13 beach sites were summarized 88,083 subjects. Children aged 4-7 and those 8-12 had the highest exposures at the beach compared to other age groups. These findings and estimates may help inform quantitative microbial risk assessments (QMRA) to better estimate health risks associated with recreational water exposures.
Description:
Swimming and recreating in lakes, oceans, and rivers is common among adults and children; some studies have suggested that children may be at greater risk of illness following such exposures. Such differences might be due to differences in immunity or differing behavioral factors such as poorer hygiene, and longer, more intensive exposures to potentially contaminated water and sand. We pooled data from 13 prospective cohorts (n=88,083) in order to examine exposures to potentially contaminated media such as beach water, sand, and algae among children and adults. We summarized time spent in the water among swimmers (n=48,573) by age group. Children aged 4-7 and those 8-12 had the highest exposures at the beach compared to other age groups. Among children aged 8-12, 26% swallowed water, 62% dug in the sand, 17% got sand in their mouth, and 16% got algae in their mouth compared to 6%, 22%, 5%, and less than 1% of adults 35 and older, respectively. Across all sites, children 8-12 spent 123 minutes in the water ( SD = 86 minutes), while adults aged 35 and over, spent on 76 minutes in the water (SD=68 minutes). All exposures reported among children were statistically significantly greater compared to adults. These findings and estimates may help inform quantitative microbial risk assessments (QMRA) to better estimate health risks associated with recreational water exposures. This abstract does not represent EPA policy